Journal Article

Realist Activity Theory for Digital Library Evaluation: Conceptual Framework and Case Study

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Date

2002, 2002

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Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 11

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Springer

Abstract

A critical yet largely unexamined facet of digital library design anduse is how library content is assembled and vetted, which in turn hasprofound implications for ongoing digital library usefulness and usability.This article presents a social realist evaluation framework for anactivity theoretic case study of the Flora of North America digitallibrary. Social realist evaluation is a relatively new evaluationparadigm, positing that outcomes follow from mechanisms acting incontingently configured contexts. Because this study focuses on thedigital library content vetting process, a significant part of thepresent analysis concerns the publication subsystem of the Flora ofNorth America digital library – Collaborative Publishing Services –and how problems related to its design and use facilitates our abilityto explain the Flora of North America not only as a functioning digitallibrary project, but as a contradiction-driven organizational form inexpansive development. Activity theory is a philosophical and cross-disciplinaryframework for studying different forms of human practices in a multi-level,stratified manner, developmentally in time and through space. This intensivecase study of the Flora of North America digital library illustrates thatwhile social realism, itself content-neutral mechanics of explanation,provides a real foundation for activity theoretic analyses of workand technology, activity theory supplies a conceptually and substantivelyrich vocabulary for explanatory reasoning about technologically mediatedsocial practices, such as digital library assemblage and use.

Description

Spasser, Mark A. (2002): Realist Activity Theory for Digital Library Evaluation: Conceptual Framework and Case Study. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 11. DOI: 10.1023/A:1015288305397. Springer. PISSN: 1573-7551. pp. 81-110

Keywords

activity theory, case study, digital libraries, evaluation, Flora of North America, practical social analysis, realist social theory

Citation

DOI

10.1023/A:1015288305397

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URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1015288305397
 https://dl.eusset.eu/handle/20.500.12015/3604

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JCSCW Vol. 11 (2002)

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Referenced By

Number of citations to item: 26

  • David Allen, Stan Karanasios, Mira Slavova (2011): Working with activity theory: Context, technology, and information behavior, In: Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 4(62), doi:10.1002/asi.21441
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  • Nabil Ben Abdallah (2012): Réflexions sur la prise en compte de l’évolution des concepts dans les systèmes d’organisation des connaissances, In: Études de communication 39, doi:10.4000/edc.3886
  • Geraldine Torrisi-Steele, Viktor Wang (2021): Qualitative and Digital, In: Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management, doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-7600-7.ch001
  • Yrjö Engeström, Juhana Rantavuori, Hannele Kerosuo (2012): Expansive Learning in a Library: Actions, Cycles and Deviations from Instructional Intentions, In: Vocations and Learning 1(6), doi:10.1007/s12186-012-9089-6
  • Pussadee Nonthacumjane, Elena Maceviciute, Thomas D. Wilson (2022): Organizational Aspects of Collaboration on Local Information Management by Thai Provincial University Libraries, In: Journal of Library Administration 6(62), doi:10.1080/01930826.2022.2102380
  • Yvonne Rogers (2004): New theoretical approaches for human‐computer interaction, In: Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 1(38), doi:10.1002/aris.1440380103
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  • Faraja Igira, Margunn Aanestad (2009): Living with Contradictions: Complementing Activity Theory with the Notion of “Installed Base” to Address the Historical Dimension of Transformation, In: Mind, Culture, and Activity 3(16), doi:10.1080/10749030802546269
  • Jyoti Mishra, David Allen, Alan Pearman (2014): Information seeking, use, and decision making, In: Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 4(66), doi:10.1002/asi.23204
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  • Eija Korpelainen, Mari Kira (2011): Systems approach for analysing problems in IT system adoption at work, In: Behaviour & Information Technology 3(32), doi:10.1080/0144929x.2011.624638
  • José Abdelnour Nocera, Torkil Clemmensen, Judy van Biljon, Jan H Kroeze, Xiangang Qin, Leonardo Parra-Agudelo (2024): Towards a Research Agenda for Geopolitical Tensions in HCI, In: Interacting with Computers 1(37), doi:10.1093/iwc/iwae024
  • Geraldine Torrisi-Steele, Victor C. X. Wang, Amy Sedivy-Benton, Carrie J. Boden-McGill (2015): Research Goes Digital: Some Methods, Frameworks, and Issues, In: The Reference Librarian 4(56), doi:10.1080/02763877.2015.1057467
  • Xiaohua Li, Ardiana Sula (2011): Developing National Digital Library of Albania for Pre-university Schools: A Case Study, In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-24469-8_35
  • T. D. Wilson (2008): Activity theory and information seeking, In: Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 1(42), doi:10.1002/aris.2008.1440420111
  • Yun Huang, Brian Dobreski, Huichuan Xia (2017): Human Library, In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, doi:10.1145/2998181.2998312
  • Stan Karanasios, Bonnie Nardi, Clay Spinuzzi, Julien Malaurent (2021): Moving forward with activity theory in a digital world, In: Mind, Culture, and Activity 3(28), doi:10.1080/10749039.2021.1914662
  • Stan Karanasios, David Allen (2014): Mobile technology in mobile work: contradictions and congruencies in activity systems, In: European Journal of Information Systems 5(23), doi:10.1057/ejis.2014.20
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  • Christine A. Halverson (2002): Activity Theory and Distributed Cognition: Or What Does CSCW Need to DO with Theories?, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 1-2(11), doi:10.1023/a:1015298005381
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